George Stroumboulopoulos to interview Oprah Winfrey during her Canadian tour

Canadian media personality George Stroumboulopoulos will interview celebrity Oprah Winfrey one-on-one during her Canadian tour with stops in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Photograph by: Provided by CBC
, Calgary Herald

CALGARY — Canadian media personality George Stroumboulopoulos will interview mega star Oprah Winfrey one-on-one during each of the shows on her Canadian tour in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, the Herald has learned.

Also, today about 200 extra tickets will be available for sale through Ticketmaster for the sold out show at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tuesday night.

“It’s going to be fun man. I’m looking forward to it,” said Stroumboulopoulos.

“Historically, interviewing an interviewer is the most fun. Personally and professionally. Because you’re talking to somebody who really understands what giving means. You want in an interview setting what your hoping to be is a generous interviewer with a generous subject. So it’s where you can turn (it) into a conversation as opposed to an interview and Oprah’s built for that, man.”

Winfrey is in Edmonton tonight and in Vancouver on Thursday.

Christian Darbyshire, who with partner Andy McCreath of Calgary-based tinePublic Inc., are the producers of the Oprah tour, said the entrepreneurs think that Stroumboulopoulos is one of the best interviewers in Canada, if not the best.

“We thought that bringing in George would kind of give it a bit of a more hip, younger feel and we just love the way he does his interview style,” said Darbyshire.

Stroumboulopoulos said what Winfrey has been able to do in the field of broadcasting during her career is so impressive and everyone in the business admires that.

“And you know what else? She does it on a human level,” he said. “If it was just about her own personal gain it would be one thing. There’s lots of broadcasters who are famous for that. But so much of what Oprah has done with her empire is to empower people and I’ve been in this business long enough to know when you make it about other people it’s a way better world.”

Stroumboulopoulos is catching Winfrey at an opportune time — right after her exclusive interview with cycling legend Lance Armstrong and his confession of using performance-enhancing drugs.

As for what he’s going to talk to Winfrey about in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, Stroumboulopoulos said he’s prepared for any conversation.

“I do like the idea of empowerment. I do like the idea of exploring her relationship with empathy building and the sort of life she’s led. She’s earned this, man,” he said. “She may have been born to do this, but she wasn’t born into this. To me a conversation with Oprah has got to be satisfying to the audience in the room in that they’ve also got to learn stuff about their own lives to relate and connect. Otherwise, it’s just going to be two people talking.

“If there’s value in this, it will be that other people can continue to be inspired by her and continue to be curious about her ... I don’t script out an interview. I never do. Because I want it to be the conversation that exists as opposed to the conversation that I want. I have a few questions that I want to ask. Obviously a lot of themes I want to hit on. But how we get there and the structure of that, I’m going to let that just kind of rip.”

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